yellow, runny eye

I'm sorry you're having to learn by trial by fire. I had a similar situation, 3 new 9 week old birds brought in when I first got into chicken keeping. There's not enough talk about the risks in bringing in new birds! (And i got the new birds from the same dealer I got the day old chicks from! You never know.). Those birds infected my flock with coccidiosis even after a 30 day quarantine. Since then my rule has been: no new adult birds join the flock. Ever. Don't beat yourself up: this is how we chicken keepers learn.

That being said, if that bird was in my flock, it would be an immediate culling. There is no curing a respiratory disease; sick birds are carriers for life. What's worse, a chicken that falls ill like this makes the rest of your flock that much more vunerable to illness. I'd also cull the birds you got from your friend, immediately. If you're lucky, some of your original flock may escape getting sick. If you decide to just treat the illness, keep in mind that all future birds you get are more likely to get sick, and you'll be compounding the problem.

My two favorite books at the moment are: "The Small Scale Poultry Flock" by Harvey Ussery and "Chicken Health for Dummies" by Julie Gauthier. They may offer more inisght, too. Good luck on whatever you decide.

Quarantine rule is everywhere. It is important for all chicken keepers to educate themselves for this very reason. Coccidiosis is a parasitic infection of the intestinal tract and can happen at anytime,it is easily controlled with Amprolium.. It can be spread by wild birds,your own clothes and bringing in new chickens,but new flock members added can come down with an overload/outbreak from existing chickens,they are only immune to the specific strains they have been exposed to. Cocci is not a contagious disease.
 
Wow... I'm so grateful for your generous replies and really helpful links.

I really had no idea new chickens could bring such diseases with them and that once chickens have a respiratory illness, they're infected/carriers for life. This does lead me to the culling issue. Five I have now are "orphan" birds I took in because their owners couldn't take care of them. The diseases they've introduced have killed three of my original five hens. I'm just floored that this has happened. I did move in the spring, so am wondering if the new backyard could have bred some problems (I live in a very urban area), although it's largish, has lots of shade, and they seem pretty happy back there.

My question: how have you culled your unwanted birds? I have to figure out what I'll tell the previous owners, but mostly I'd like to cull them in the most humane and legal way. I don't think it would be fair to give them to a shelter or another owner because I'd be spreading more diseases. There are some chicken processors who advertise on craigslist and I might cop out since I don't like killing things and have a lot of remorse afterwards, especially if I don't "use" the processed animal. How do others do this?

This was such a hard lesson to learn, as others have noted. I only have two original hens left (a Welsummer and a bantam OEG) and I really love them. My flock was so healthy until the new birds were introduced
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Thanks again! Michelle
 

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